Telecommunication service providers typically support multiple generations of air-interface technologies at a given point in time. Through a process of spectrum re-farming, service providers may deploy a new air-interface technology that is intended to replace a previous generation of air-interface technology. Spectrum re-framing refers to the process of decommissioning one air interface associated with a previous generation of air-interface technology and deploying the next generation of air-interface technology in its place. Typically, spectrum re-framing of air-interface technology outpaces the gradual reduction in the number of old generation devices and the subsequent increase in the number of next-generation devices. As a result, the process of introducing a new generation of air-interface technology can be a laborious and costly upfront exercise.
However, more recent advances in air-interface technology permit previous and new generations of air-interface technologies to co-exist over a common, overlapping spectrum. Such advances permit service providers to avoid the laborious and costly upfront expense of decommissioning and re-purposing previous air-interface technology. Instead, previous and new generations of air-interface technology, such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G-New Radio-LTE (5G NR-LTE) air-interface technologies can coexist within a common air-interface. In doing so, service providers may gradually deploy a new air-interface technology (i.e. NR-LTE) at a more gradual rate that mirrors market penetration of new user devices.
However, despite a co-existence of air-interface technologies, service providers are still tasked with ensuring that a shared spectrum does not compromise a user experience on either one of legacy and new user devices that supports a previous or new generation of air-interface technologies, and that a shared spectrum complies with regulatory and industrial network performance and efficiency criteria associated with the previous and new generation of air-interface technologies.